Lost
by Slytherin4harry
Summary: What if Charles Widmore's youngest daughter was on Oceanic flight 815?
1. Chapter 1

Diclaimer: I do not own Lost or any of its characters

* * *

Marie stood in line waiting to be checked in. She was behind an Asian man and she could hear an American man arguing with the woman at the desk. _'This is going to take a while.'_ She thought. The man had been arguing with the woman for ten minutes already and he now sounded like he was going to cry. About five minutes later, he was finally done and the line moved forward again.

"Next!" she heard a man behind the desk call; Marie moved over to stand in front of him and handed him her ticket and passport.

"How are you doing today Miss Widmore?" he asked entering her information

"I am doing fine, Thank you." She said with a smile

"There are apparently no open seats in first class. Are you alright with a seat in coach?"

"Yes that is fine. As long as I can get to where I need to be any seat is fine." She said

"Alright, then here is your boarding pass. Have a good flight."

Marie walked over to her gate and checked in before heading to the bar.

"What can I get for you miss?" asked the bartender

"I'll have a fire and ice, please." She said showing him her ID.

"Coming right up."

While she waited she thought about what had brought her to Sydney and then on to Los Angeles. She was looking for the love of her sister's life, Desmond. He had gone on an around the world race hosted by her father and he had disappeared. Marie liked Desmond because he made her sister Penny happy. He had been missing for three years but neither one had given up hope of finding him. She was distracted from her thought by her phone.

"Hello?"

"Mare, it's Pen. Did you find him?" asked her sister.

"No. I am on my way to LA to start my search there. We'll find him Pen. I know we will." Marie said in a comforting voice.

"I know but we have been looking everywhere and there is not a trace of him anywhere."

"Please don't lose hope Penny. Everything will turn out alright, you'll see."

"You're right of course little sister. Now tell me your flight information so that I know where you are."

"I am on Oceanic flight 815 from Sydney to Los Angeles. I'll call you when I land so that you know that I am safe."

"Alright, I will talk you then. I love you Marina."

"I love you too. Penelope."

"Bye ."

"Bye."

Marie hung up the phone and took a sip of her drink. She pulled her sketchbook out of her bag and flipped to the one of Penny and Desmond. She was working on the finishing touches of Desmond's face.

"That's very good." Came a voice from her right.

Marie looked up and saw the man that was arguing with the woman at the desk.

"Thank you."

"Who is it if you don't mind my asking?" he said

"It's my sister and her boyfriend."

"Ah. They make a good couple." He said

"Thank you."

"I'm Jack." He said offering his hand

"Marie."

They sat in silence before a Hispanic woman joined them at the bar. She made small talk with Jack before she left talking on her phone.

Marie packed her things when she heard her boarding call and made her way over to the doorway. She found her seat, put her bag in the overhead compartment minus her sketchbook and IPod, and took her seat. She waited until they were up in the air before she started up her IPod. For the next six hours, she worked on several different sketches that she hadn't had a chance to complete.

She looked up when she felt the first big jolt. She uncurled her legs from under her and placed her sketchbook in the pocket of the chair in front of her before buckling her seatbelt. The jolts where getting worse and worse as every second went by. She grabbed the oxygen mask when it fell from the ceiling and put it on she heard the tail section break off before she passed out.

* * *

The first thing she was aware of was the sound of someone screaming. As she opened her eyes she saw that she was laying on a beach surrounded by plane wreckage, luggage, and people. She pushed herself up with her arms and tried to get to her knees but one of her legs wouldn't hold her weight. Looking down she saw a piece of the plane had embedded itself into her right leg. She saw Jack running around trying to help everyone and figured she would get herself out of the way until he could get to her.

"Son of a bitch!" she heard a blonde man say in response to a man being sucked into the still running engine.

"Hey!" she called out to him. He turned to look at her. "Can you help me get over there until and out of the way until the doctor is free?"

"Sure thing Sweet cheeks." He said as he picked her up being careful of her leg. He set her down so that her back was against one of the trees.

"Thanks." She said as he walked off.

Marie watched the chaos started to calm down as the hours passed. As it got dark she saw Jack walking out of the woods with a dark haired woman.

"Jack!" she called

Jack looked around and spotted Marie and paled when he saw the piece of the plane sticking out of her leg

"Why didn't you get my attention earlier?" he asked as he looked at her leg. "Kate can you go get the thread, needle, alcohol, and two more people that can help hold her down?"

"Sure." She said running off

"How bad is it?" Marie asked when it was just the two of them

"Well you need stitches once I pull this out but it doesn't appear that the bone is broken or that it hit any major arteries." He said

"Did anyone ever tell you that your beside manner needs some work?" she asked with a smile

Before he could respond, Kate returned with everything Jack had asked for including a black man and a Middle Eastern man.

"Ok. What I need you two to do is to help me move her into a laying position and then one of you needs to hold her shoulders down while the other holds down her other leg." Jack said

The three of them moved her into a good position before getting into position themselves.

"I'm Marie." She said looking up at the Middle Eastern man.

"Sayid." He said.

"Michael." Said the other man down by her leg.

"Kate can you find a stick and pull the bark off?" Jack asked. She came back a few minutes later and handed him a good-sized stick. "Marie put this in your mouth, bite down, and get ready." He said handing her the stick

Marie bit down on the stick and felt Sayid's hands on her shoulders and Michael's on her good leg. Jack gave no warning and just pulled out the piece of metal. It hurt like a bitch! The pain was like nothing she had ever felt before. Sayid kept the gentle pressure on her shoulders while Jack stopped the bleeding and stitched her up.

"There." He said as she was helped to sit up.

"Bloody hell! That hurt." She said in a strained voice.

"I want you to stay off your leg as much as possible so if you need something ask. Ok?" said Jack

"You got it Jack." Marie said

"I'll take you over here for now." Said Sayid as he picked her up and carried her over to the signal fire. Marie fell into a pained sleep a little while later.

She woke-up a few hours later to the sound of something in the forest. Whatever it was, it was big and loud. Marie fell into an uneasy sleep a few hours later.

She spent the majority of the next day near the signal fire with Sayid before the blonde man that had helped her the day before picked a fight with him. Jack came running out of the jungle with Kate and another guy to break up the fight.

"Hey! Break it up!" Jack yelled. "That's it. It's over!"

"You want some more of me boy!" The blonde man yelled.

"Tell everyone what you told me! Tell them that I crashed the plane!" Sayid yelled.

"What is going on?" Jack asked. Sayid man yelled something in Arabic, which was probably in insult. "What's going on!?" Jack repeated.

"Look, my kid found these in the jungle." Michael said as he pulled out handcuffs from his pocket.

"And this guy was sitting in the back row of business class the whole flight, never got up. Hands folded underneath the blanket. And for some reason, just pointin' this out, the guy sitting next to him didn't make it!" The Blonde man said.

"Thank you so much for reserving my behavior." Sayid said sarcastically.

"Don't even think that I didn't see them pull you out of line before we boarded." Sayid lost it again and tried fighting but Michael pulled him back.

"Stop!" Kate yelled. "We found the transceiver but it's not working. Can anybody help?"

"Yes." Sayid said. "I might be able to."

"Great! Perfect! Lets trust this guy!" The blonde man said.

"Hey! We're all in this together man. Lets treat each other with a little respec-" A big man was saying before the blonde man interrupted.

"Shut up Ardo!"

"Hey! Give it a break." Jack said.

"Whatever you say Doc. You're the hero." The blonde man said with a grimace look in his eye.

"You guys found the cockpit?" A dark haired man asked. Jack nodded.

"Any survivors?" I noticed Kate give the small blonde man a weird look.

"No." Jack replied. Kate was talking to Sayid about the transceiver.

Sayid came back over to the signal fire and got to work on the transceiver. The big man followed him over and sat down with us.

"I'm Hurley." he said leaving his hand out for Sayid to shake.

"Sayid." He replied shaking his hand.

"I'm Marie." She said when Hurley looked over at her.

Ten minutes later Kate came over to talk to Sayid.

"Is it working?" Kate asked.

"It seems to be. But we're not picking up a signal." Sayid said.

"Why do we need to pick up a signal? Aren't we sending one?" Kate asked.

"Yes but what you want to see here is little bars." Sayid said pointing to the transceiver. "The bars would show the radio's getting reception."

"We need the bars." Kate said confirming.

"Hoping that someone, maybe a ship will pick up our distress call. But that would be a waste of the battery, which might not last for long." Sayid said. "But there is one thing we can try."

"What?" Kate asked.

"Seeing if we can get a signal from high ground."

"How high?" Sayid looked up on top of the mountains, as did Kate.

'_It looks like I am spending the night alone'_ thought Marie as she watched Kate and Sayid get ready for the hike. They were joined by several other people before they managed to leave.

"How's your leg?" she heard from behind her.

Turning to look she saw a bald man coming toward her

"It's fine. Still hurts a little but it is getting better." She said as he sat down next to her.

"John Locke." He said holding out his hand

"Marina Widmore." She replied grabbing his hand.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while before Jack walked over with a pair of crutches.

"I found these in the plane wreckage so you can use them to get around if you need to," He said setting the crutches down next to her. "you might still need some help getting to your feet but after that you should be fine to move around."

"Thanks Jack. This will be a great help." She said giving him a smile.

She ate the dinner that Hurley had brought over for her before she turned in for the night.

* * *

Please review and tell me what you think.


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

Diclaimer: I do not own Lost or any of its characters

* * *

Marie got up the next day and spent most of her time down by the water. Jack came over at one point and changed the bandage but other than that, she was left alone. She hobbled back up the beach when she heard the group return. Sayid was on a piece of the plane wreckage trying to get everyone's attention.

"As you and the others know, we hiked up the mountain in an attempt to help the rescue team locate us." Sayid was saying. "The transceiver failed to pick up a signal. We weren't able to send out a call for help." Everyone disappointedly groaned. "But we're not giving up! If we gather electronic equipment; your cell phones, laptops, I can post a signal and we can try again. But that may take some time so for now, we should be rationing our remaining food. If it rains, we should set up tubs to collect water. I need to organize three separate groups. Each group should have a leader." Sayid looked pleased as everyone around nodded in agreement. Jack approached as Sayid went on.

"One group for water - I'll organize that. Who's going to organize electronics?" I noticed Kate straying from the group toward Jack. Sayid pointed at one of the other castaways who raised their hand.

"You? Rationing food? OK. And I believe a third group should focus on the construction of..."

Marie stopped listening and wondered back over to the signal fire. She sat down and stared into the flames.

FLASHBACK

"_Miss Widmore? Your father will see you now." Said his secretary_

"_Thank you." Said Marie as she stood and grabbed her purse. She made her way into her father's office and sat in the chair in front of his desk._

"_What can I do for you Marina?" he asked._

"_I just wanted to say good-bye face to face." She said_

"_Good-bye?" he said looking up from the document he was reading._

"_Yes I am leaving for a while and I just wanted to let you know."_

"_Where are you going?"_

"_Australia."_

"_Why?" he asked_

"_Because I need to get away for a while." She replied standing up. She walked around to his side of the desk, kissed his cheek and made her to the door. "Bye daddy."_

END FLASHBACK

Marie was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of gunfire she didn't see where it came from but she really didn't want to know either.

The next few days passed much the same as the others. Get up, have your bandage changed, and sit by the water. On the fourth day night everyone was awoken due to Vincent's constant barking. Marie sat up quickly as she heard another noise coming from the fuselage, but stayed where she was. She could still hear everything that was being said.

"Somebody's in there," Claire said, her nerves showing in her voice.

"Everyone in there's dead," Sayid added.

"Sawyer," Jack stated.

"Right behind you, Jack-ass." Sawyer stood, an enormous flashlight in his hands. Jack and Sawyer walked down together towards the fuselage. Kate followed, then Boone, and Charlie. Jack pushed Sawyer's industrial sized light away and tried to find the thing with his small light.

"I'm 'a shed some light on this thing," Sawyer said to Kate, then quickly reached up his flashlight. Jack pushed it away again, but it whatever was inside caught sight of them, it's yellow eyes staring at through the darkness.

"Run!" Jack shouted to alert everyone. They all ran off in different directions.

"They're gone!"

"What the bloody hell was that?"

"Boars."

No one slept peacefully for the rest of the night.

* * *

Fights were almost an everyday occurrence, today's fight was between Sawyer and Hurley.

"Oh, that's bull and you know it!" Hurley screamed, reaching at Sawyer's bag. Boone was close to them.

"Guys, knock it off," Boone interfered. They ignored him though.

"You're not happy unless you're screwing over…"

"Hey, I'm peachy, pork-pie!"

"Guys, knock it off!"

"Stay out of this, Metro!" Sawyer yelled at Boone.

Jack broke up Sawyer and Hurley.

"What's going on?"

"Sawyer's holding the last of the peanuts!" Hurley pointed.

"It's my own stash! I found it in there!" Sawyer said. Jack looked down at his feet and around at the crowd of Oceanic survivors, afraid of the question he was about to ask.

"What about the rest of the food?"

"There is no rest of the food, man! We kinda… ate it all…" Half of the crowd was surprised, the other disappointed.

"We can find food! There are plenty of things on this island we can use for sustenance," Sayid explained to everyone.

"And how are we gonna find this sustenance?" Sawyer sassed. A knife flew by his head and embedded in the wall of the fuselage.

"We hunt."

"How'd you get that knife on the plane?" Kate asked.

"Checked it."

"Well, you either have very good aim, or… very bad aim, Mister?" Jack asked, handing him his knife.

"Locke," Michael said. "His name is Locke."

"Alright, Mr. Locke, what is it that we're hunting?" Jack commented.

"We know there are wild boar on the island… razorbacks, by the look of them. The ones that came into the camp last night were piglets… 100, 150 pounds each. Which means that there's a mother nearby. A 250 pound rat with semi tar-like tusks and a surly disposition who'd love nothing more than to obliterate anything comes near. A boars usual mode of attack is to circle around, charge from behind, so I figure it'll take about three of us to distract her long enough for me to flank one of the piglets, pin it… and slit it's throat." He explained.

"And you gave him his knife back?" Sawyer asked Jack.

"Well, if you've got a better idea…"

"Better than three of you wondering into the magic forest to bag a hunk of ham with nothing but a little bitty hunting knife? Hell no, best idea I ever heard," Sawyer said sarcastically. Jack looked like he had listened to Sawyer, and still needed some convincing from Locke. He walked around his case, and opened it with his foot to reveal at least ten or twelve more knives.

"Who is this guy?" Hurley asked aloud.

Marie just shook her head and turned back to the water as Kate and Michael joined Locke on the march to collect a pig. A couple hours later Kate and Michael were back with Michael injured. The pregnant woman had spent all day preparing a little ceremony before the fuselage was burned.

* * *

On the sixth morning Marie awoke to Charlie yelling for Jack.

"Jack! Hey Jack!" he yelled pointing at the water

Jack took one look and sprinted towards the water. He dove in, and started swimming out.

Jack was carrying a man back to shore slowly. It was Boone. There was another woman screaming only so far behind him. Kate and Charlie met him in the water.

"Jack!"

"Someone else is still out there!" Jack dove back into the water but he was too late.

Marie spent the morning sitting with Kate and getting to know her when Walt ran up.

"That Pregnant lady fell down." He said to Kate when he reached her. Kate stood up ran to Claire when she saw Charlie and Michael carrying her.

"What happened?" Kate asked Charlie.

"She just dropped."

"It must be the heat." Marie said. "Is she breathing?"

"I think." Michael said. Kate suggested that we took her inside the Medic Tent.

Kate sat down beside Claire trying to wake her up.

"Claire? Honey? You have to wake up." She slowly lifted her eyes.

"She needs water." Marie said to Charlie. He quickly stood up and walked to the other side of the tent.

"The water's gone." He said. Marie turned to look at him in shock. "Someone stole it."

Kate, Sayid, and Marie went to look for Jack but he was nowhere in sight. They ran into Locke and told him what happened.

"Where is the doctor?" He asked.

"I don't know. Nobody can find him." Kate said.

"Is this the last of the camps water supply?" Sayid asked and Kate said yes.

"Keeping it all in one place; foolish." Kate suggested going in the jungle to find some fresh water but Sayid disagreed.

"When the people find out the water is gone, it's going to get ugly. And when they find out someone pinched it, it's going to get uglier." Locke said.

Later that night everyone discovered that Boone had taken the water.

"Here's your thief!" Charlie yelled. Everyone was gathered to see Charlie pointing to Boone, lying on the ground.

"Why'd you do it pretty boy, eh?" Charlie pushed Boone.

"It was just sittin'… just sittin' in the tent! And Jack took off!"

"Claire could've died!"

"I tried to give her some sooner, but it just… it got out of hand! No one would've understood!"

"What is going on?" Kate asked.

"Someone had to take responsibility! Or he would've never left!"

"Shut up!" Charlie yelled, attacking him.

"Charlie, stop it!" Michael and Kate pulled them off of each other.

"Leave him alone!" We all turned around, in shock and surprise. Jack stood near the jungle, sweaty and secure. Charlie let go of Boone took a step away from him.

"It's been six days… and we're all still waiting. Waiting for someone to come. But what if they don't?" He said these words as if they were easy to say. "We have to stop waiting. We need to start figuring things out. A woman died this morning, just going for a swim. And he tried to save her, and now you're about to crucify him?" He asked, staring at Charlie with accusing eyes. He looked ashamed. "We can't do this! Every man for himself is not gonna work! It's time to start organizing, we need to figure out how we're gonna survive here. Now I found water. Fresh water, up in the valley," Jack continued. Half of the group looked over in the direction he came from, as if it were close by. "I'll take a group in at first light. If you don't want to come, then find another way to contribute! Last week, most of us were strangers. But we're all here now. And God knows how long we're gonna be here! But if we can't live together… we're gonna die alone."

Marie sat by the fire and though about what Jack said. She knew that moving to the caves was her best chance at surviving. She needed to talk to Jack now that he was back from wherever he had gone because her leg felt completely fine. There was no pain or discomfort. She had even walked without the crutches this morning. She got up and headed over to where Jack was sitting.

"Hey." She said

"Hey yourself." He said

"I was wondering if you could check my leg because there has been no pain for a day and I was able to walk without the crutches this morning." She said as she sat down.

"Sure." He said as he unwrapped her leg. He stared in shock at her completely healed leg. " Let's take out the stitches, then you should be able to walk like normal."

That will make going to the caves much easier." She said.

After Jack took out the stitches, Marie headed over to the luggage that was littered around what was left of the fuselage. She dropped to her knees and started looking for clothes that would fit her. She found a pair of black cargo pants and a belt with a black tank top and tennis shoes. She headed to a secluded part of the beach and got herself as clean as she could without soap before changing into the clothes she had found.

The next morning she gathered what she had in a backpack and made her way over to Jack for the trek to the caves. Jack led the way with Kate and Marie right behind him they were getting along really well. It took a good fifteen minutes to get to the caves. There was a lot of floor space so almost everyone should be able to fit in there and it was very close to the water. Marie tossed her stuff into a corner to set out later and helped Jack and Kate look around. Once they had seen it was a good place to stay Marie started to lay her stuff out.

* * *

Over the next few days, more and more people joined them at the caves. Jack and Hurley were moving the medical area into a more secluded area of the caves.

Jack and Hurley came back through the woods, carrying suitcases full of medicines.

"Dude… what's in these things, cinder blocks?" Hurley complained. Jack and Hurley put the suitcases down.

"I packed everything that I thought might be useful here, without leaving the others shorthanded," Jack told him.

"Hey, you guys need any help?" Charlie asked, placing his guitar down on a rock. "I used to lug the band equipment, before we had roadies… way back in the day. Here let me…"

"Charlie, the zipper's…" Jack started, but Charlie picked up the bag, letting bottle of antacids and antibiotics fall out. "Broken…"

"Sorry," Charlie apologized, "Just tryin' to help…"

"No, I know, it's okay," Jack told him. "Hey, wanna help me grab the rest of these bags?" He asked Hurley. Jack walked off towards the bags, but Hurley stood there watching for a second.

"Oh… could I?" Hurley asked unenthusiastically. He followed Jack.

They moved the rest of the bags over to the entrance to what would be the medical cave while Marie joined them with a flashlight.

"Don't you think we should check out this cave before you move everything inside?" she asked Jack

"Yes let's do it now because I really want to get everything set up." He said grabbing another flashlight. Everything looked ok so they started to walk back out when Charlie ran in and started yelling at Jack

"You know… a lot of people look up to me!"he yelled. Marie and Jack stared at him, confused at what was happening.

"What?" Marie asked him.

"They respect me! And you…"

"Charlie…" Jack wondered.

"You just treat me like I'm some bloody child, like I'm some useless joke!"

"What are you talkin' about?" Jack asked him.

"Charlie, what the…" Marie started, but Charlie wasn't done.

"Charlie's not good enough to do this, Charlie's just in the way, put Charlie up to that!"

"Just sit down, man, I wanna take a look at you," Jack ordered.

"Oh, you're gonna look out for me, yeah? We'll look out for each other, that's how…" Marie just stood there in bewilderment. She didn't know where this was coming from or what Jack did… if anything…

"Charlie, just calm down, you're not yourself!" Jack told him.

"You don't know me! I'm a bloody rock God!" Charlie screamed. Rocks started to tumble.

Jack grabbed Marie and pulled her to him trying to keep her from harm's way. Rocks were falling all around them and on them, the last thing Marie saw was jack being pinned by a big rock. Marie came to when she heard voices.

"Jack! Jack can you hear me? Jack!" Hurley yelled. "Come on dude! Answer me."

"I'm pinned, I can't move and Marie is starting to come to." Jack said. "Charlie was with us!"

"It's OK, he made it out." Hurley said.

"Hey listen! Jack? We're gonna get you outa there, OK?" said Michael

Marie and Jack sat in silence while they tried to decide what to do. They heard the rocks start to rumble and fall.

"Charlie move!" they heard Michael yelled.

Charlie came tumbling into the little area with them. We sat in a small triangle quietly. Jack and Marie took sips from a water bottle that Charlie had given them.

"Charlie," Marie said. He looked up at her. "What happened back there?" He looked down at his feet, and wiped his mouth nervously with the back of his hand.

"How long has it been, Charlie?" Jack asked him. Marie was confused. What the hell were they talking about now?

"I don't know what you're going on about," Charlie asked, turning briefly at Marie.

"How long has it been since your last fix?" Jack continued. Marie looked at Charlie. He was a druggie. But he looked like a mess… it was the first time she'd actually taken the time to look at him in a while. He looked like he was in withdrawal.

"Almost a day and a half," Charlie said after a long silence.

"How's the withdrawal treating you? Any hallucinations?" Jack asked.

"Apart from the conversation I had about an hour ago with you in the jungle? No, not really," Charlie told them, laughing a little.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Jack asked him. "I could've helped you through this."

"Yeah, you'd think I was useless, and a junkie, too," Charlie continued, now regretting he'd said anything.

"Useless?" Jack said at the same time. Marie figured she'd let Jack talk to him... he seemed to be on a roll with his speeches to him.

"You're not useless. It took a lot of guts coming back in here, tryin' rescue me… to rescue us. I won't forget that," Jack told him. Marie smiled at Charlie in agreement.

"For the rest of our lives?" Charlie asked. Jack laughed a little at the question.

"At the rate we're using our oxygen in here… it won't be too long," Jack said.

"This place… reminds me of confession. Those little… claustrophobic booths," Charlie said.

"I wouldn't have taken you for a… Religious man," Jack smiled.

"I used to be…" Charlie looked like he was drifting back into his memories. "Hey, you wanna hear my confession?" Marie laughed, as did Jack. "Might take a while."

"Hey, I'm no saint either," Jack told him. "What's wrong?" Jack asked. Marie looked up. Charlie was straining his eyes.

"A moth…"

"A what?" Jack asked.

"Right behind you, look! There's a… there's a bloody moth in here!" Charlie said, as if it were a shocking thing to find a moth in nature. He sat up on his knees, and starting scratching at this ceiling.

"Charlie, what are you doing?" Jack asked.

"There's a light!" Charlie yelled back.

"What?" Jack asked.

"I can see light!" Charlie crawled upwards through a small hole we was digging, and started laughing.

"What is it?" Marie asked

"Come up! Come up!" Charlie yelled down the hole. Marie looked to Jack.

"You first," He told her. Marie stepped up and crawled through the small hole. She inched up in an army-crawl fashion until Charlie reached his hand down to her. He pulled her up, the dirt from the ground dusting her light blonde hair.

"Jack, come up!" She yelled down. Jack had a little trouble because of his shoulder. It took him a few moments to get up, but Charlie grabbed his good arm and pulled him out. We walked together, smiling at this freedom down to where the caves were. Marie smiled at Charlie and draped her him in a hug kissing both of his cheeks. "Thanks," she said. He smiled.

"Hey, it's the doctor!" They heard Walt yell ahead of them. They walked around a corner and into the caves, where Kate pushed past everyone to the front of the crowd. Kate ran over and nearly attacked Jack and Marie when she hugged them.

"Oh, ow, easy! My shoulder… be careful," Jack told her. She backed off a little.

"How'd you get out?" Hurley asked.

"Charlie," Jack said, smiling at him, "Charlie found a way out."

"Dude, you rock!" Hurley threw his arms around Charlie and smothered him in a hug. Others congratulated Charlie, and hugged him.

* * *

Please read and review


	3. Chapter 3

Marie and Jack recovered from their escapade with the rocks and went about everyday life. Marie was sitting in the caves eating a mango when Sayid stumbled in. He had a bad cut on the back of his head. Marie jumped up and helped him over to Jack who was getting out supplies.

"This is gonna hurt," Jack said. Sayid braced himself for the cold, stinging medicine that was about to touch his head. Jack pressed the cool gauze against Sayid's head, as he cringed and let out a deep breath. Jack held the bottle of hydrogen peroxide in his hand. "Ready to tell me what happened?" Sayid looked ahead of him into the jungle.

"We were trying to find the source of the distress call. I saw the flare from the beach, and then the flare from Sawyer's position in the Jungle," Sayid cringed again as the peroxide killed the harmful bacteria around his open wound. "I switched on my antenna, activated the transceiver, and then… darkness." Sayid turned around to look Jack in the face. "Whoever hit me came from behind." Marie looked up at Jack, waiting for his reaction. Sayid was definitely one of those people that would act long before thinking of what to do in an angering situation. Jack sighed.

"They destroyed the equipment?" Jack asked, trying to change the topic a little.

"Yes."

Jack nodded. "Listen, we're gonna figure this out, but don't do any…"

"I will do what I need to do to find the man responsible." Jack sighed, wanting to reason with him, but knowing it was useless, kept his mouth shut.

"We need some help over here!" Marie turned and saw Shannon, struggling to hold up the weight of Boone, who was bleeding around the mouth and nose.

"Oh my God," She said, rushing to help her.

Marie put her arm around him, as Jack took the other side. They helped him up to the chair where Sayid had been sitting and sat him down.

"Ow… ow," Boone groaned. Marie let him go and grabbed the hydrogen peroxide Jack had recently put down, and some gauze.

"What happened?" Jack said, worried, but mildly calm. Marie handed him the gauze and looked at Boone, who had turned around. He looked at Marie, then down at his hands, and back at Jack.

"Sawyer." He said. "Ah, Jack, it's fine, it's just a scrape," Boone said, cringing from the sting of the peroxide.

"Yeah, lots of scrapes today," Jack said. "I'm gonna run out of peroxide…"

"He just jumped me, man…"

"Why?" Jack asked. Boone looked up at him, almost afraid to tell him why. He looked to Marie, then back at Jack.

"Shannon has asthma," He said, looking down at the seat.

"Asthma?" Jack asked, kind of confused by his answer.

"Yeah."

"Never seen her have an attack before," Jack added.

"Because she had an inhaler. She sneaks it when no one's looking, she's been embarrassed by it since she was a little kid," Boone said. Marie pulled his head back until she could see the cut up skin. "Guess breathing's not cool."

"Had an inhaler?" Jack asked. Boone looked back down at Jack.

"It ran out a couple days ago. But I had four refills, which should've been enough for a couple months, but she always forgets her medications, so I put it in my suitcase! Today I see that jackass reading Watership Down…"

"You're losing me," Jack said, trying to calm Boone a little. It didn't seem to work.

"It was in my bags, the stuff that I checked. If he has my book, he has my luggage, he has my luggage, he has the inhalers." Jack looked off to the side. Marie could tell he didn't want to start anything with Sawyer, and she didn't blame him. "Her breathing got really rough today, man. If she has an attack… it's not gonna be good." Boone looked somewhat frightened, and kept looking over at Shannon.

Jack pulled Marie away from the two of them.

"Boone's hurt," He said. "But Shannon's the one I'm worried about." Marie looked over at her. She looked nervous. "I'm going to try to get those inhalers off of Sawyer." He pointed at Boone. "Make sure he and Shannon stay here. Together." She nodded, and walked back to Boone.

"Where's he going?" Boone asked.

"To talk to Sawyer…"

"I'm going with him," He said, trying to get up. Marie pushed him back down.

"No, you're not, Boone."

"Why not?" Marie looked over at Shannon. He turned around slowly, stared at her a second, then looked back at Marie.

"What's going to happen when you're not there and she has an attack?" She asked him. He looked around, frustrated, then sat back down. "I know you're mad. But you can't just attack him. Let Jack handle it. Enough people have been hurt." Marie sat with Shannon and Boone waiting for Jack to come back.

Shannon took in deep breaths, and her face was flushed with her constant coughing. Boone had his hand on her back, and Marie sat on the opposite side, holding her hand. Jack had been searching for something to help her with for the past ten minutes, and had yet to find anything. Marie looked over to Jack, who had just dumped out another duffle to find nothing. He shook his head, and looked up. He looked past her head. Marie slowly turned to see Sawyer, holding a water bottle and heading towards the creek. She looked back at Jack, who was getting up. Marie pulled her hand away from Shannon and turned to the creek where Sawyer was.

"Give me the inhalers," Jack demanded. "Now." Sawyer stood up.

"Hell, was wondering when you were gonna stop askin' nice," Sawyer started, holding his water bottle. Jack swung his arm around, and punched him right where he held his water bottle at his lips. Sawyer stood up. Jack had hurt his arm by hitting him, and held it in pain.

"'Well, it's about time, Cowboy. Been tellin' you since day one we were in the wild. Didn't think you had it in ya." Jack swung his arm around again, and hit him a little higher, around the nose. Sawyer sat up after wiping away some of the blood from his face. Marie stood up.

"That all you got?" Sawyer begged, wanting Jack to scare everyone even more.

"Jack!" She yelled to him. He looked at her. Shannon had stopped her breathing problems, and we all stared at Jack. The Korean couple were close together, afraid he might hit them, confused at why we were fighting. Sawyer stared at Jack. He shook his head and walked towards Marie. She stared at Sawyer for a moment. He only stared back, blood running down from his mouth. Marie slowly sat back down, and turned towards Shannon. After a little while, Sawyer walked past her. She held Shannon's hand, trying to distract her from her breathing. About an hour later, Shannon's breathing was starting to get really bad.

"Help! She's not breathing!" Boone yelled. Marie was sitting on her knees trying to calm Shannon down "The attacks are getting worse!" Jack hurried over and knelt in front of her

"Shannon, listen to me… look at me, look at me. You need to listen, now. This isn't just the asthma, it's anxiety. It's in your head…"

"No…"

"Yes, you know that your medicine's run out, and you're panicking. Shannon! Shannon, look at me. Now we can fight this, together, okay? Nod your head, Shannon," Jack asked her. She nodded quickly. "Good, breath in…"

"She needs her inhaler!" Boone yelled.

"Boone! Breath in through the nose, slowly," Jack told her. She kept breathing, terrified, through her mouth. "No, no, no, in through the nose, like this." Jack took a quick breath through her nose to show her. "You can do this, Shannon. You can do it! In through the nose." Shannon took in one last breath and released through her nose. She kept breathing slowly through her nose. "You got your breath, your color's comin' back, see! I knew you could do this. You feel it? It's passing."

"Yeah," Shannon said.

"Okay, again," Jack said. Shannon kept breathing through her nose. Jack nudged Boone's shoulder and they got up. Marie stayed with Shannon.

"Good job, Shannon. You're doing great," She told her. She smiled a little, but focused on her breathing. Boone came back quickly. "Where's Jack going?"

"Didn't say," Boone said. Marie knew he was going to go after Sawyer. She looked after him, and saw Sayid follow quickly.

"They're going after Sawyer," She said plainly.

"Good." Marie turned to Boone.

"Boone, they're going to hurt him," she said.

"Marie, he jumped me! Shannon could be in real trouble without those inhalers! And you're worried about him?" Boone asked.

"We shouldn't be attacking each other, Boone! We need to find ways of coexisting together." She said

For the rest of the day Shannon focused on her breathing but it was getting harder for her to keep her breath. Marie saw Sun walk over to Jack with a plant and hold it out to him before pointing at Shannon. Jack said something before Sun walked off. She came back a few minutes later with a paste of some sort.

She waved Marie over and pointed to the bowl then made a rubbing motion on her chest before pointing at Shannon. Marie reached over and got Shannon's attention.

"Shannon, Sun is going to put this paste on your chest ok? It will help you breathe again." She said

"Ok."

Marie motioned to Sun that it was ok and about an hour later, Shannon was breathing fine again. Everyone went to bed that night exhausted.

Marie woke up the next morning and checked on Shannon to see how she was doing after her scare yesterday before heading over to where Jack and Michael were sitting.

"See, this junction here -- re-route some of the spring's water flow into a couple of suspended basins, pop in some hose, you got showers. This way you keep the drinking water separate." Said Michael

"This is -- you drew this?" asked Jack

"I was an artist in a previous life." Michael joked

"I thought you were in construction."

"I am. I mean, I was -- long story."

" Hey, Jack. Hurley's all worked up about something, said we should come see it." Said Charlie.

Marie, Michael, and Jack followed Charlie to a big open area where Hurley was waiting.

"Welcome, to the first and hopefully last, Island Open." He said

"What?" Jack asked

"It's two holes for now, 3 par, and no waiting." Said Hurley

"Hurley, you built a golf course?" Asked Marie

"Rich idiots fly to tropical islands all the time to whack balls around."

"All the stuff we've got to deal with, man -- this is what you've been wasting your time on?" Michael asked

"Dudes, listen. Our lives suck. Everyone's nerves are stretched to the max. I mean, we're lost on an island, running from boars and monsters -- freakin' polar bears."

"Polar bears?" said Michael

"You didn't hear about the polar bears?" Charlie asked him

"Look, all I'm saying is, if we're stuck here, then just surviving's not going to cut it. We need some kind of relief, you know. We need some way that we can, you know, have fun. That's right, fun. Or else we're just going to go crazy waiting for the next bad thing to happen." Hurley finished.

Jack, Michael, and Marie were at one hole while Charlie and Hurley were at the other Jack and Michael were discussing Jack's shot.

"This is a problem, man." Michael said

"Yeah." Jack said

"I mean, I know what I'd do, but it's got to be your call."

"Okay, give me a seven iron." Jack told Marie

"You got it." She said

"Hey, heads up over there." Jack yelled to Hurley and Charlie

"No Jack, you won't get anywhere near him." Charlie yelled back

Just as Jack was about to take his shoot he was interrupted.

"Hey, Doc? There you are. Somebody said you went this way. Listen, that rash of mine, it's starting to spread. It's like the size of a grape. What are you guys doing? Are you playing golf?" asked Sullivan

"Yeah." Jack said

"Can I play?" Sullivan asked

About twenty minutes later it seemed like the entire group was on the golf course to watch Dr. Jack play golf. Charlie was currently up.

"Ugh!"

"Dude, I think he stuck it." Hurley said

"Lucky, lucky."

"This thing have a lady's team?" Kate asked from behind Jack

"Hey, when did you show up?" he asked

"A while ago. I almost didn't recognize you. You're smiling." She joked

"I'll have to watch that."

"So how'd you come up with this?"

"Wasn't me -- all Hurley. I've been going crazy trying to make everyone feel safe. I haven't been sleeping because I want everyone to feel safe. And he builds a golf course and everyone feels safe." He replied

"Aw, crap, do over." Hurley said after completely missing the ball.

"It's a mulligan, mulligan. It's a gentleman's sport, you've got to get the words right." Charlie said correcting him

"Dad." Walt said

"Hey, come here. Check this out." Michael said

"You want to -- let me." Charlie said trying to put his arms around Hurley.

"Dude, get away from me."

"You left me alone at the caves." Walt told his dad

"I left you with Claire." He said

"She's sleeping."

"Oh, man. I'm sorry. I just got caught up. I'm really sorry Walt. I screwed up. I'll make it up to you. Hey, you want to play?"

"Naw, there's other people waiting."

"Oh no, don't worry about it, they won't mind. You want to take a swing?"

"Michael, it's your shot. You're up." Charlie told him

"Oh, okay, cool." He said before turning to Walt. "So we'll play later, okay?"

Walt just shook his head and walked off with Vincent. It was Charlie's shot and he was picking grass out of the way of his ball. Michael and Marie both laughed at him.

"Guys, please. I've never made par on a course before." Charlie said.

Charlie lined up his shot and missed.

"Dude, you were robbed." Hurley said

"Bollocks. See that?"

"Okay, Jack. It's up to you. Sink this you get to wear the blazer." Said Michael clapping his hands

"No pressure." Said Kate

"Yeah, no pressure." Said Charlie

"5 bucks says he sinks it." Hurley called out

"Hey, you're betting against me?" Charlie asked him

"Sorry, dude, but you're a duffer like me."

"Make it 10 and you're on." Said Boone

"I don't have any cash, but I'll bet my dinner on the Doc." Said Sullivan

"I've two tubes of sunscreen and a flashlight says he chokes." Sawyer called from behind everyone.

"I'll take that action." Said Kate

"Yeah, yeah, me too." Said Boone

"You just bet on Jack, dumb-ass." Said Shannon

"We need the sunscreen, Princess." He said

Everyone was in good spirits as they headed back to their respective homes for a good night sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Marie sat up quickly at the sound of Claire's screams. She looked around and saw Claire hitting Charlie in an attempt to get away.

"It's alright. Hey, hey, you're dreaming. You were sleep-walking, alright? Claire, what happened?" he asked looking at her hands.

Marie hurried over and sat down with Claire.

"Claire? Can you tell me what happened honey?" she asked

"It was just a nightmare Marie. I'm fine." She said while Marie looked at her hands.

Marie looked up at Jack's approach. He had supplies for Claire's hands.

"That must have been a hell of a nightmare." He said as he bandaged Claire's hands.

"Who said it was a nightmare?" she asked

"I'd say when someone makes their fists so tight they dig their fingernails a quarter of an inch into their palm they probably weren't dreaming about riding ponies. Did you ever sleep-walk before?" Marie asked her.

"No. I don't think so. How would I know?" she asked

"It'll get back to you. I had a girlfriend once that told me I talked in my sleep." Jack said

"What did you say?" she asked him

"Don't know. Whatever it was she didn't like it." He said with a chuckle. "How was your OB-GYN in Sydney?"

"Good. She was good."

"She was okay with letting you fly in your third trimester?" he asked

"Yeah, I went for a checkup the week before and she said it'd be fine."

"The ultrasound was good?" Marie asked

"Uh-huh. Very healthy."

"How have you been feeling?" she asked her

"Okay. Back's pretty sore, but it's probably just from sleeping on the ground. I get dizzy if I stand up too fast. And I have to pee all the time."

"Are you eating enough?" Jack asked

"Boar and bananas." She replied

"How many weeks in are you? What was the date that you found out you were pregnant?" Marie asked.

"35 weeks now." She replied

"So you're due in a little over a week." Marie said.

"Yup." Said Claire standing up

"You know you're going to have to deliver that baby don't you Jack?" Marie asked him after Claire had left.

"Yeah," He said with a frown. "Can I count on you to help?"

"What makes you think I know anything about delivering a baby?" she asked him

"I saw the stretch marks on your stomach. The only way you get marks like those is if you have delivered a baby." He said looking at her intensely. "You didn't have the baby with you on the plane."

"No. The baby was a stillborn. A boy. The father and I were in a car accident when I was seven months pregnant. He was killed in the crash and I went into an early labor. There was too much stress on the baby and he came out stillborn." She said with tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up bad memories, but you do know what to do if something happens." He said

"Yes. And I will help because I don't want to see her go through what happened to me." She said.

Marie moved over to her spot in the caves and grabbed her bag. She emptied it out and headed out to look for some fruits. She stayed out in the jungle all day thinking about the baby that she never had the chance to know. By the time she returned to the caves it was dark and the fires were lit. she carried her bag of fruit over to the pile and emptied it before heading over to her bed and laying down. She was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

* * *

Marie shot up as Claire's screams filled the caves.

"Somebody's going to hurt me, please, help me." Claire screamed

"Someone attacked her." Charlie told Jack

"What?" he said

"He held me down." Said Claire

"Which way did he go? How long ago?" Michael asked

"I don't know. I couldn't see. Just now, just now, he just ran away." She cried

"What's going on?" Hurley asked running up

"We should find out, check the surrounding caves." Charlie said

"Hey, wait, wait, hold on don't go –" Jack said trying to regain control

"Hurley, let's go." Said Charlie

"C'mon, c'mon, let's sit down here, okay?" Marie said pulling her down next to her. Can you go get her some water?" she asked Ethan

"Yeah, sure." He said

"Claire, look at me, it's okay. You're safe now." Jack said

"Did you get a look at him, at all?" Michael asked

"No, it was dark I couldn't see." She said

"Where did this happen?" Jack asked

"Here. I, I was sleeping and woke up and he was trying to hurt my baby. He had this thing like a needle. He stabbed me with it. He was trying to hurt my baby." She said

"It's okay honey. It's okay. I've got you." Said Marie holding her.

Marie sat the rest of the night holding Claire as she shook and cried. Charlie came over and gave her a blanket before sitting down next to them and holding Claire's hand.

"You alright? Don't worry, you want to close your eyes, I'll be here all night. I won't let anyone get to you. I won't leave you Claire. Promise." He said

Marie stayed in the caves to keep Claire company for the majority of the day. Sometime in the afternoon Jack came in to talk to Claire.

"Claire?" he said

"Did you find him?" she asked

"Um, no." he said

"Well, what if he comes back?"

"Claire, this situation we're in -- the crash, that no one's coming, this place -- it, it can kind of mess with your head a little, and maybe make you see things that aren't actually there. Now, I know it feels very real." He tried to explain

"I, I don't unders. . ." she stuttered

"Your baby's coming, soon. And I can't even imagine how scary that must be for you, but the more upset you are the more dangerous it is for you, and your baby. So, I want you to take these." He said showing her some pills

"What are they?" she asked

"It's a sedative, very mild -- commonly used in situations like yours. It won't harm the baby, I promise." He said

"You don't believe me." She said in disbelief

"Claire."

"You think I'm making this up? I get attacked and you want to give me sleeping pills?" She said starting to yell

"They're not sleeping p -- look, it's a very mild sedative." Jack tried to explain

"I'm leaving." Claire said

"What? No. Claire, Claire." Jack said

"I was safer at the beach. It's not safe here."

"Don't do this, Claire. You need to think about the baby."

"Don't talk to me about the baby. I'm sick of everyone telling me what to do."

"Please." Jack said grabbing her arm

"Let go of me." She said before walking out of the caves.

"I know that you think what you just did was for the best Jack but you have to remember that you are dealing with a hormonal woman. It could be the stress of living on this island or whatever happened to her could be real. You have to think of all the possibilities." Marie said as she watched Charlie run after Claire.

That being said Marie moved passed him to fill up her water bottle. She turned when she heard Jack say something.

"Sayid?" he said

"Listen to me. I found her, the French woman." Sayid said

"I need some water." He told Marie. "What happened?" he asked Sayid

"The woman -- on the island. I had to come back. I had to come back. We're not alone." He said before passing out.

Marie and Jack looked up when Hurley sat next to them.

"He wasn't on the plane." He said

"Who wasn't on the plane?" Marie asked

"Ethan, that Canadian guy, he wasn't on the passenger manifest." Hurley said

"Well, where the hell is he?" Jack asked

"I don't know. I saw him yesterday, but now. . ." Hurley said

"Has anyone seen Ethan?" Jack yelled

"Sayid's leg." Marie said

"Has anyone seen Ethan?" Jack yelled again

"Yeah, yeah. He went to go get some wood. He took off on the path to the beach. Is he okay? What happened?" Michael said

"Where's Charlie?" Jack asked

"What?" Marie asked him

"Where's Charlie?"

"He went after Claire." Locke said

Marie, Jack, and Locke tore out of the caves to look for Charlie and Claire.

"Jack!" Locke said pointing at Claire's bag

"She was moving back to the beach. Claire. That's hers. What happened? What. . ." Jack said

"I don't know. Footprints. At least three distinct sets all over the place. It looks like there might have been a struggle." Locke said looking at the ground

"What? What is it?" Jack asked him

"Drag marks. Here. And Here."

"Claire and Charlie, they were together."

"I think they've been taken." Said Locke

"Claire!! Charlie! Claire!" Jack yelled

"Jack. Jack. Shhhh." Locke said. "Tracks are still fresh."

"This doesn't make any sense. How can one man drag off two people, one of them pregnant?"

"You're asking the wrong question. Not how, why." Locke said

"You think it was Ethan." Said Jack

"It certainly feels like it was Ethan, doesn't it?"

"By himself. How?"

"We can't account for all of our people. And, more importantly, who's to say they're even our people?"

"What?"

"Sayid said there were others."

"Sayid said we're not alone."

"Semantics." Said Locke

"Sayid's injured. We're not even sure where he went. He's delirious."

"I'm just telling you what the ground is telling me."

"So which way is the ground telling you they went?"

"Jack, we don't know what's going on here."

"We know enough."

"We need to prepare. We could be back at the caves in 10 minutes, organize a search party, get wea. . ."

"Which way did they go, Locke?"

Marie and Jack took off into the jungle after Locke pointed the way. They kept running but stopped when they passes the same broken branch that they started at.

"Jack. Marie. Good thing you were going in a circle. Not much of a search grid, but we never would have found you otherwise."

"Did you find anything?" Kate asked

"No." Marie said

"You should go back to the caves -- Sayid's leg." Kate said to Jack

"I dressed Sayid's leg. You found me, we can find Charlie and Claire. Now, do we have a trail to follow or not?" He said

"Jack, this was my fault." Said Locke

"What?" Jack said

"I hunted with Ethan. I spent time with him. I never sensed anything off. But for everything that I know about hunting, tracking -- whoever he is, he knows more. If we catch up with him, I don't want anything to happen to the only trained physician on the island. So go back, be the doctor. Let me be the hunter." He said

"Can we go now?" Jack asked

"Follow me" he said. "We mark our progress by line of sight. We tie these off so we don't get lost."

"You can lead us back to camp, right?" Boone asked

"If nothing happens to me." He joked

"Maybe I better take marker detail." Said Boone as Jack, Kate, and Marie ran up.

"Anything?" Marie asked

"Not yet."

"If you can't find the trail. . ." Jack said

"I'll pick it up again. We need to rest for a minute, get our clarity back." Said Locke

"You're going to take a break? It's got to be almost 4 o'clock. When the sun sets there's no way…"Jack said in disbelief

"It's 4:25. And, yes, I'm taking a break." Locke said

Kate pulled Jack away for a private conversation while Marie took a small breather. Boone knelt next to her.

"How are you doing Marie?" he asked.

"I'm fine. Just worried about Claire." She replied

"Jack!" Locke yelled. He was holding the L that Charlie wore on his hands

"What is it?" Kate said

"Look familiar?" he asked

"Yeah, it's Charlie's." said Jack

"You think it just came off?" Boone asked

"No. He's leaving us a trail." Said Marie

"They went this way." Jack said

"I'm not so sure. There's another trail here." Locke said looking at the ground

"What do mean, another?" asked Marie

"These are footprints. People moved off this way." Said Locke

"Charlie's leaving these for us to follow. They went that way." Said Jack

"Unless Charlie isn't the one leaving them. If Ethan knows that we're behind him, he could be setting up a dummy trail. Take off in one direction, double-back his own footprints." Said Kate kneeling down to look at the ground.

"Wait? Now you're a tracker?" Boone asked

"You're just full of surprises." Locke said with a smile.

"So, we've got two trails. Let's split up, I'll take that one." Jack said

"No. We should stay together, Jack." Said Locke

"Why? We've got two trails, and apparently, two trackers."

"Be careful."

Boone and Locke headed off in one direction while Jack, Kate, and Marie headed off in the other direction. Jack was running through the jungle with Kate and Marie behind him.

"Please, slow down." Said Kate running to catch up to Jack.

"You said they went this way."

"I think they went this way. I'm not as good as Locke is."

"So where did you pick up the tracking skills, Kate? Was that before or after you were on the run?"

"I'm trying to help Jack."

"You know what might help? A little honesty. Just give me something real, anything."

"My dad was in the army. Ranger Battalion. We were stationed in Fort Lewis, Washington State. We'd go hiking together. One day we spend 8 hours tracking deer. Being in the woods, it was like -- it was like his religion. That was real. Anything you want to share, Jack?"

"Can you two bicker later? We need to find Claire and Charlie." Marie said walking past them.

"Yeah." Said Kate as she looked at the ground to find the trail.

"I guess we were right." Jack said picking up one of Charlie's finger tapes. "Where to now?"

There was a strange sound like a bird call mixed with Claire's screams. Jack took off running it that direction.

"Jack, where are you going? Jack?" Marie asked

"Didn't you hear her?" he called back

Marie and Kate raced to catch up with him but couldn't find him.

"Look over there. It looks like someone slipped off the cliff." Kate said running over to look.

Down at the bottom they could see Jack lying in the mud looking like he had the shit beaten out of him. They slowly make their way down to him and attempt to bring him around.

"Jack, hey, are you okay?" Kate asked as he sat up

"How long was I out?" He asked

"I don't know, I'm sorry, you slid on the rocks. . ." Marie told him

"Ethan?" he said

"What?"Marie said

"Ethan was here." He told them

"You banged your head, Jack." Kate said

"No. He was here." He insisted

"You have to stop. The rain has washed away the trail. Even if he was here -- you've got -- Jack!" Kate told him as Jack got up and started to run again.

"I'm not letting him do this."

"Not letting him?" Marie questioned

"Not again." He said

Marie and Kate follow him through the jungle until they come upon Charlie hanging from a tree by his neck.

"Oh my God!" Marie gasped

"No." Jack said as he got under Charlie and supported his legs. "You've got to cut him down." He told Kate

"Hold on Charlie. Hold on there." He told him as Kate climbed the tree.

"I can't reach. Pull him over to me." She told him.

They managed to bring him down and Jack started CPR

"He's not breathing. C'mon breathe, Charlie. C'mon, breathe. C'mon." Jack said as Kate and Marie started crying. Jack started to beat on Charlie's chest in an effort to get him breathing again. "C'mon. C'mon."

"Jack, Jack stop, he's not..." Kate said through her tears

Jack stopped and took a breath as Marie came over to console him

"It's okay, it's okay." She said. Jack pushed her away and started to hit Charlie's chest again

"No, no." he said

"Jack, Jack." Kate said trying to stop him. "Stop. Stop."

"C'mon. C'mon." He says again. With one last hit, Charlie starts gasping for air. "Breathe deep, breathe deep. You're okay." He told him

After a short rest the three of them made their way back to the caves. Marie sat with Charlie while Jack gathered his supplies.

"Does that hurt? How's your breathing?" Jack asked him as he cleaned the wound on his neck. Charlie didn't respond, he just sat there staring into space. "Charlie, you've got to talk to me. We're going to back out and look for Claire the moment the sun comes up, and I could really use your help. Anything you can tell me about what you remember, where you were going. Did you see or hear. . .?"

"I didn't see anything, hear anything. I don't remember anything. Claire. . ." he said

" What?" Jack asked him

"That's all they wanted." Charlie told him

"They?" Jack asked

"All they wanted was Claire." He repeated

"We'll find her Charlie. I promise." Marie told him be fore she moved over to her bed.


	5. Chapter 5

Marie spent the next few days after Claire's disappearance looking for her. She went out on her own when it became evident that Locke and Boone were not looking for her. Marie left before most people were awake and came back long after the sun had set but she never found her. She had Just come back from looking when she heard Locke shouting.

"Where's Jack? We need the doctor." Locke said as he entered the caves

"What happened?" Charlie asked running up

"Doctor!" Locke shouted

"Claire?" Charlie asked

"Is she alive?" Michael asked

"What happened?" asked Walt

"Is she alright?" Charlie asked frantically

"Where did you find her?" Jack asked as he took Claire from Locke

"About a mile north. We were looking for the dog." He replied

"Was she conscious?" Jack asked him

"She collapsed in my arms." Locke said

"Did she say anything?" Charlie asked

"Charlie, man, is she injured?" Hurley asked him

"Is she alright?" Walt asked

"Everybody needs to back off, okay? Just give her some air. Claire, can you hear me? Wake up now. Hey, Claire, Claire. Wake up now." Jack said wiping Claire's brow with a cloth. "Hey." He said when she opened her eyes

Everyone was startled when Claire screamed and backed away.

"Claire? It's okay. It's okay." Jack said in an attempt to calm her

"Claire. You're safe." Charlie said

"Who are you? Who are you? Who are you people?" Claire asked frantically

"Claire do you remember what happened when Ethan took you?" Marie asked pushing her way forward.

"I don't understand. I don't know any Ethan. I don't remember. I don't remember any of you. I don't remember any of this." Claire told her

"What do you remember?" Charlie asked her

"Um, I was on a plane flying to LA from Sydney." She told them

"Claire, we we're all on that plane. It crashed here on this island. That was almost a month ago." Jack informed her

"No, I'm, I'm due." Claire stuttered

"Your baby's fine. He's kicking, everything's normal. Okay?" Jack reassured her

"Well, if it's been almost a month then why hasn't somebody come to get us?" Claire asked

"We don't know honey. We're doing the best we can with the situation." Marie told her

Marie and Jack left her with Charlie figuring he could comfort her. Marie headed over to her bed and lay down. She was exhausted after searching for Claire all day and then dealing with her return.

Marie slept through most of the next day trying to catch up on sleep from the last few days. When she woke, she heard about what had happened to Jin and Charlie and about the plan to protect people on the beach and in the caves. She spent a little bit of time with Claire to see how she and the baby were holding up before heading down to the beach.

"How's it coming?" She asked Sayid when she saw him, Locke, and Boone.

"I think we have it covered." He told her.

"Good." She said as she looked at the contraption.

She stayed down at the beach until it was almost dark. Everyone slept very uneasily that night in the caves and found that they had every reason to worry the next morning. Scott was apparently killed the night before. His neck, arms, and fingers were all broken and he was found in the water. No one on the beach saw what happened and everyone was scared. After he was buried Hurley gave a little eulogy.

"Scott Jackson worked for an internet company in Santa Cruz. He won a sales prize: two week Australian vacation, all expenses paid. He was a good guy. Sorry I kept calling you Steve, man. Um, amen, I guess. I don't know how to end these." He said

Everyone dispersed after the funeral to do his or her own thing. Marie went out hunting fruit while Jack and Locke took off. She had been out there for a few hours when it started to rain. She heard six gunshots go off in the distance and wondered what had happened. She made her way back to the caves and spotted Kate.

"Kate do you know what happened out there?" Marie asked her

"A group of us went out after Ethan and we had him cornered when Charlie shot him six times." Kate informed her

"So he's dead then." Marie said.

"Yeah." Said Kate walking off.

Marie went to bed that night feeling safer than she had in a few days.

* * *

The next day Marie was filling up her water bottle when she heard Michael behind her.

"Marie."

"Hey Michael. What's up?" She asked

"Walt found this when we were looking for stuff for the raft." He said handing her a bag.

Marie took the bag and looked inside. It was her sketchbook and pencils!

"How did you know that they were mine?" she asked with a smile

"The book has your name on it and I figured the pencils went with it." He said

"Thank you Michael!" She said giving him a hug

"No problem." He said before heading out of the caves.

Marie moved over to the bed and sat down. She pulled out her sketchbook and flipped through it. She had pictures of her family and friends in it but now she had some new faces to add. She started with Jack and worked for most of the day on her pictures by the time night fell she had Jack, Kate, Michael, and Walt done and she was almost finished with Sayid.

"What have you got there, Marie?" Jack asked sitting down next to her.

"Michael found my sketchbook and pencils." She told him happily.

"Ah. So that's what you have been doing all day." He said as he looked through it.

"Yeah I have several new faces to add." She said as he stopped on his picture.

"These are very good." He said handing her the book back.

"Thanks Jack." Marie put the sketchbook back in her bag and grabbed a piece of fruit. She cut it in half and offered the other half to Jack.

"Thanks." He said taking it from her. "So what did you do in the outside world Marie?"

"I really don't have a job. My sister and I have been looking for her fiancé for three years." She told him

"Why have you been looking for him?"

"He went on an around the world race that was hosted by my father three years ago but he never reached the finishing point. Penny is convinced that he still alive and I hope to God she is right. Desmond became like an older brother to me." She told him

"Ah." Jack said in understanding. "What did you want to do after you found him?"

"Well I wanted to go to school to become a chef. I love to cook even more than I love to draw." She said.

"A chef huh?"

"Yeah. It's not what my father wants me to do but my sister and I don't always do what he wants us to." She told him with a grin.

"I can understand that." Jack said with an answering grin.

Marie and Jack talked for a long time until both of them were yawning. Marie woke the next morning and grabbed her bag that contained her sketchbook and pencils. She headed to the beach and sat in a nice sunny spot just out of the reach of the water. She pulled out her book and a pencil and continued to work on her sketch of Sayid. She was near Michael and Walt where they were the raft so she heard Jack come over and talk to Michael.

"Wow, you're making a lot of progress." Jack said

"Yeah, trying." Michael told him

"It's pretty cool."

"Got some bamboo for the decking. Got a piece of the fuselage for a cabin, some storage bins. What's up?" Michael said

"I thought I'd give you the heads-up." Jack told him

"Yeah."

"Yeah, there's a lot of talk going on about who's going on this thing with you."

"Hey man, it's not the Queen Mary. I've only got room for 4 people. There's one open spot." Michael told him

"Who took the other one?" Jack asked him

"What's the matter, Doc? Feelin' left out?" Sawyer asked him

"You're taking Sawyer with you?" Jack asked Michael

"Yep, bought myself a ticket on this little tub. Let me tell you, the fare was steep. [He tosses Michael a coil of cable]. I could've used that cable to hold up the whole east wing of my new beach house." Sawyer stated proudly

"You sold him a spot?" Jack asked incredulously

"I needed the halyards for the mast." Michael said with a shrug

"Good thing I'm a saver, not a spender, huh, Doc?" Sawyer said

Marie just shook her head and turned back to her drawings. By the time night fell she had completed pictures of Sayid, Sawyer, Shannon, and Boone. She was making her way back to the caves when she saw the fire. She dropped her bag and ran back to the raft. Everyone was trying to put out the fire but it was spreading too rapidly.

"Where is he? Where the hell is he?" Michael said turning to Sun. "Where is he?"

Sun said something but no one understood her

"Where is he?" Michael asked again

"She doesn't understand you, man." Jack said

"Where is he?" Michael asked again

"Back off, Michael." Kate told him

"No, her husband did this, and she knows. You're trying to protect him now, is that it?" Michael shouted

"She was with me." Kate told him as Walt threw sand on the flames

"Walt, hey Walt. Get back." Michael said pulling him back

"I was. . ." Walt said

"No, no, no." Michael said as Sun ran off

"Sun, wait." Kate shouted after her

"I'm going to break his damn neck." Michael said as Kate and Jack step infront of him to prevent him going after Sun.

"Take it easy, man. We don't know that Jin did this." Jack told him

"Oh, you're serious?" Sawyer said in disgust

"Sawyer, shut up." Marie told him

"Jack, c'mon we saw him on the beach this morning." Charlie said

"That doesn't mean that he torched the raft." Jack said

"Yeah, then who did, Jack?" Michael asked him

Marie shook her head at the foolishness of men and headed back to the caves picking up her bag on the way. At the caves, Sun and Jin were having another fight but she ignored them and grabbed her water bottle. She found a bowl and poured the cool water over her hands trying to cool the burns. Jack came up behind her and saw what she was doing and took her over to the med station.

"This will help." He told her putting some aloe on her hands then wrapping them.

"Thanks Jack." She said kissing him on the cheek before heading to her bed.

* * *

The next day she was on the beach when came back with Jin tied up. Sawyer shoved Jin into the sand as Michael and Walt ran up.

"Michael! Take it easy." Jack said

"I'll take it easy, alright." Michael replied

"Hang on, man. You've got to slow down. Slow down." Hurley said

"Hey, man. You burn my raft?!" Michael shouted at Jin

"Just calm down. Calm down and take a breath." Jack said

"You burn my raft? Why'd you burn my raft, man?" Michael shouted at Jin again as everyone gathered around

"Just calm down, and think about it for a minute." Marie said

"Look at his hands, man. They're burned." Michael said

"So what! Does that mean that anyone's hands that are burned is a suspect? My hands are burned do you want to accuse me?" Marie asked him

"Back off, Barbie. It's got nothing to do with you." Sawyer told her

"Shut it, Sawyer!" Jack told him

"Look, everybody chill out." Hurley said

Jin looked over at Sun and said something

"What'd he say?" Michael asked her

Jin repeated what he said

"He said something to me?" Michael asked

"Michael." Jack said getting in his way

Jin said something else.

"Say it again!?" Michael shouted

"Michael, Michael." Jack said trying to restrain him

"No, no, no. Say it again, man." Michael said to Jin

Jin repeated what he said

"Michael." Jack said

Michael punched Jin making him fall back into the sand

"Hey!" Jack shouted as Sawyer grabbed him

"Easy, Doc. One fight at a time." Sawyer told him

"He's right. This is between them." Sayid said

Every time Jin said something Michael would punch him. Michael was about to hit him again when Sun screamed at him

"Stop it!! Leave him alone." She said. "He didn't burn your raft."

"You speak English?" Charlie asked her

"Didn't see that coming." Hurley said

"You understood us? All this time? Why didn't you say anything?" Jack asked

"Your raft, it was already on fire when he arrived. He burned his hands trying to put it out." She told Michael

"Then why did he run?" Michael asked her

Sun repeated the question to Jin in Korean but he didn't reply

"Exactly, that's what I thought." Michael said

"My husband is many things. But he is not a liar." Sun told him

"You're going to lecture us about lying, Betty? From the look on his face, even your old man here didn't know you speak English. How do we know she's not covering for him?" Sawyer asked her

"Because she's isn't. Why would he burn the raft?" Locke asked

"He's been after me since day one, everybody knows it..." Michael said

"Okay, it's personal, but why take it out on our best chance of getting off the island? Why would any one of us block an attempt to get home? We're so intent on pointing the finger at one another that we're ignoring the simple undeniable truth that the problem isn't here, it's there. [pointing to the jungle] They've attacked us, sabotaged us, abducted us, murdered us. Maybe it's time we stop blaming us and start worrying about them. We're not the only people on this island and we all know it." Locke said before walking away

"He did not do it." Sun repeated to Michael

Michael and Walt walked off toward the raft and Sun and Jin took off to the caves. That night after everything had calmed down Marie sat with Sun attempting to get her to go after Jin.

"He will come back when he is ready." Sun told her.

"But you don't honestly believe that do you." Marie said picking up on Sun's hesitation. "I hope everything works out for you Sun." Marie told her before heading off to bed.


End file.
